Entries Tagged 'San Mateo' ↓

This weekend my church had its first ever meeting related to finances.  The financial details are supposed to be confidential so I will not talk about it here.  However, I was pretty encouraged by what the leadership said about how they conduct the finances of the church.

The main message I got from the meeting is that God is in control, but we still have to be good stewards of the money we are given.  My church is quite small so it is not very wealthy. The elders of the church are volunteers and they work on the finances of the church on their own time.  They assured us that all of our tithes are being spent responsibly and they have been making great progress in eliminating debt.   They also told us how our pastor is always dedicated to finding the best price when he buys something for the church and how they all try to live below their means to honor God.  I was very happy to hear all of this because I agree with all of it.  I know some Christian churches preach a philosophy that says you could be raptured anytime so it doesn’t matter how much money you spend.  Also, some pastors of mega churches are also extremely wealthy and live very flashy lifestyles with sports cars and Rolexes.  I am glad that I don’t see these attitudes at my church.

If you were there and heard some of the financial details, then you might be quite amazed as to how this little church has operated for so long in such an expensive place like San Mateo.  Seriously, the events surrounding the finances of my church just convinced me further that God is working here and that living beneath my means is the right thing to do. I am really blessed to be part of this church, and I hope to contribute more to it in the future.

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So I am turning 25 this week, and last month the hubby found a singular white hair on my head. I guess I am getting old. Lately days have been passing by extremely quickly for me. I guess I have been quite busy at work so each day just passes by in the blink of an eye. Anyway, here are some of my thoughts about turning a quarter century old.

I look and sound younger than 25 in real life. A couple years ago I called my doctor to make a doctor’s appointment and the lady on the phone said to me, “Honey, can I get your father on the phone?” Apparently she thought I was making a prank call. The same thing happened when I called United Airlines about my airline miles. The customer service representative actually said to me that I sound like I’m 12 years old. I am also pretty short so sometimes people think I am a teenager. I have been carded at Blockbuster’s for renting an R rated movie and also carded at Trader Joe’s for buying a loaf of peach liqueur cake. It’s kind of funny sometimes, but it can also be a challenge. I know that it is tough for people to take me seriously in real life sometimes because I look like a little kid. Also, if I were a manager or something I imagine my reports would feel funny being an underling of a person that looks and sounds like a little girl. So in a way I am glad that I am getting older.

On the internet, several people who read my blogs have told me that they can’t believe that I am only 24 because I seem to know a lot of stuff and I can write somewhat coherently. Some people have said that I seem very mature for a 24 year old. I take that as a compliment to my writing, but in reality I am not all that mature. People who know me know that I am a pretty hyper person that laughs at fart jokes and enjoys slaughtering others in boardgames. I do keep a good handle on my finances and career, but those who know me would never describe me as mature. My husband would say that I am extremely immature.

Anyway, sometimes I do feel like I am a child pretending to be an adult and sometimes I feel guilty about earning more money than a lot of people in my parents’ generation. Ultimately, I am pretty thankful to have lived this long and experienced all that I have already experienced. One thing that I still think is pretty amazing is that if I weren’t my parents’ first child then I would probably have never been born because of the one child policy. So I am thankful to God for letting me be the first fertilized egg in my mommy’s tummy, and I’m thankful to my parents for keeping me even though I am a girl.

I don’t know how many more years I have, but I will try to enjoy whatever time I get.

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Next month our lease on our apartment will be renewed. I’m pretty sure it won’t go up all that much since we are pretty good tenants. None of the neighbors have complained about us, either. Just out of my interest to know whether or not our rent is fair, I found some rental data for San Mateo County for the past seven years. I was sort of surprised by what I found.

As I have stated previously, we pay $1700 for a two bedroom two bathroom condo. The rent includes water, garbage, and cable TV. According the the historic data from San Mateo County, our rent is actually cheaper than the average rent for a two bedroom apartment in 2000! Here is a summary of the rent trends on a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment as recorded by the county and a timeline of recent history:

12/2000 - $1902 - The year of the dotcom boom and craziness. I was in highschool.
12/2001 - $1764 - The dotcom bubble popped and 9/11 happened in this year.
12/2002 - $1597 - Recession
12/2003 - $1478 - War broke out
12/2004 - $1421 - Valley beginning to recover, the hubby moves to San Mateo
12/2005 - $1449 - I moved to San Mateo
12/2006 - $1621 - Tech sector in full recovery, new startups and lotsa hiring
12/2007 - $1785 - We got married, moved to our present condo.
3/2008 - $1812 - Latest data available, rent prices trending up as more people are renting due to the ridiculous purchase prices. Jobs are still abundant.

So after looking at this data, I feel that our rent is pretty fair. Actually, I used a CPI calculator and found that $1902 in 2000 is actually worth $2381 today. So we are really getting a bargain and rent prices don’t always follow inflation. It is a bit alarming how much the rent jumped from 2005 to 2007, but I think as more foreclosures and cheap homes come onto the market the rental market can’t rise all that much. From what I have seen, there are actually quite a lot of 2 bedroom listings on Craigslist for under $1700 a month.

So if you are facing a rent increase, I encourage you to look up the fair market rent in your locale and see if it’s fair. If it’s too expensive then don’t be afraid to negotiate because even a month’s vacancy is very costly to a landlord and could wipe out all the gains he/she gets from raising your rent. Additionally, look for a cheaper alternative early if you know you can’t afford the increase. Oftentimes, there are individual homeowners who have held a home for many years and do not want to sell. In those cases you can get a very good deal as a renter.

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Today I read an article in BusinessWeek titled Taxing the “Not So Rich” Rich. Basically, it talked about how Senator Obama is proposing raising taxes for “rich” families with incomes of $250,000 or more, and how some families feel that they are just middle class with that kind of income.

As the article pointed out, it really depends on where you live since the cost of living varies wildly around the world. My husband and I don’t make anywhere near $250k a year, but we would be considered extremely well off if we lived in China. We may be upper middle class in a lower cost state like Texas since we could afford a house there and send our future kids to private school. However, in the Silicon Valley, there is no way anyone would considered us to be rich. Personally I feel that “rich” in the Valley is probably someone with assets in the hundred-million to billion range, and I am realistic enough to say that I probably will never be rich here.

I think a lot of the angst in the article comes from people who have good incomes that live in expensive areas of the country. The fact is, the tax system doesn’t adjust for cost of living. So even though people in high cost areas like the Bay Area are compensated well, our real capability in saving money is vastly diminished. It is tough to equalize this situation, and adding more taxes to high income families will probably just make it tougher for families with children who need that income.

Personally, one thing that really annoys me about all of this isn’t even about taxes.  I feel that with every speech about raising taxes on the rich, the politicians are implying that there is something wrong with having good incomes.  It is as if it is a sin for a family to make over $250,000 so that they need to be punished.   Most people I know here in California who have good incomes are hard working and honest people who did nothing to deserve the ire of people who have less than them.  They are professionals who contribute quite a bit to the society just through their work.  Why is there a need to take away more from them?

One thing is for sure, taxes will go up after the Bush tax cuts expire in two years. I highly doubt that the tax cuts will stay with a Democratic majority in the government. The sting will be especially painful for dual income couples like us because the marriage penalty will probably go back in full force again and our tax rate will rise dramatically. It will probably cut into our savings rate, but we are socking away as much as we could now before that happens. Ultimately, I think the government should find more ways to cut spending rather than squeezing more out of married couples and the “rich”.   I also don’t believe for a second that they will draw the line at $250k.  So brace yourself for more taxes everyone!

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The more I drive on these crazy Northern California highways the more thankful I am to God that I am alive. Everything related to our cars was going quite well this month.  For example, the hubby and I have both been driving slower on the highways and we saved quite a bit of gas.  I haven’t had to refuel for a month now.  The hubby’s point for an accident three years ago also came off his record a few weeks ago so we got his car insurance lowered.  Just when I thought that we were on a roll…

Today I got on the 101 north  as usual and started driving fairly normally between 55 to 65 miles per hour on the right lane.  As I neared the Holly exit in San Carlos I saw a paint can  and some other metal strut fly off the rear of a car in the lane left of me.  It was about 4 or 5 cars away and so I slowed down a bit, however, the can and some other debris kept on tumbling in my lane and I swerved a bit to the right.  I guess I didn’t swerve enough because I heard a loud bang, and I felt my car sink to the ground on the left.

I felt that my wheels were on the asphalt so I slowed down more and pulled over to the shoulder.  It turns out that the debris slashed both of my tires on the driver’s side.  Then I saw at least 20 cars behind me swerving into the shoulder to avoid the debris.  I guess my car was really the only one that got damaged because the debris stopped moving after I hit it. At first I thought that I didn’t have my cellphone, but I found it in my purse and called my hubby first to tell him what happened and asked him to send an email to my manager.  Then I called my insurance company to report the incident.  They sent a towtruck for me, and luckily the carshop I usually go to was only 2 miles away.  So I called my carshop (A+ Japanese Auto in San Carlos)  to say that I was sending over my car.

Anyway, I felt better once I got into the towtruck since the driver was kind of funny.  He said he went to an accident scene on highway 280 last week where a portapotty fell off a truck and splattered 3 to 4 cars.  The car in the front of the pile had crap all over it and he said to the driver, “well this is a crappy situation”.  That made the driver and her dad laugh quite a bit.  At least my car only had its tires slashed and the rest of it looked fine.

The whole impact of how lucky I was started hitting me as I sat in the office of A+ Japanese Auto.  I don’t know why it is but I tend to be extremely calm when crazy things are happening but think about it and panic over it later.  My car could have flipped over from the tire popping (in fact that has happened to one of my dad’s friends), or if the debris landed straight in the lane left to me maybe a car in that lane might have swerved and smashed into my car.  The possibilities of a giant highway  disaster were countless.   The carshop took in my car and they will inspect the undercarriage and fix my tires. So now my car is safely parked in their garage.  They also gave me a ride to work since I was only a few miles away from my office.

At the office my boss said to me, “I am glad you are alive!”  Well, I am, too.  I told my mother in law about it and she said she prays for traveling mercies for me and the hubby and his sister everyday.  I am really thankful that someone was watching over me.

This incident will probably set me back a few hundred dollars since my insurance has a $500 deductible, but that’s really the last thing on my mind now.  I am a little sad that all four tires have to replaced because they are fairly new, but I am sure my carshop will do a good job with my car since I have had my car serviced by them for a while now and their service has been consistently good.

Anyway, that’s the story of my crazy morning, and I am extremely grateful that I am alive to tell it to you.  I hope you were entertained!

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